scioptricadj.n.
/sʌɪˈɒptrɪk/, U.S. /saɪˈɑptrɪk/ A. adj.
Relating to observation in shade or the dark. Chiefly (now only) in scioptric ball n. a ball of wood with a hole made through the centre in which a lens or pair of lenses is placed, as used in a camera obscura. Now historical.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instruments for projecting image > [noun] > camera obscura or lucida > parts of
scioptric ball1696
scioptic1710
scioptric?1750
1696 E. Harrison Idea Longitudinis 79 I will give you a brief Description of one of the Instruments... It is not altogether flat nor Convex, nor Concave, nor Globular... It is Scioptrick, Dioptrick, Catoptrick.
1733 C. Cock Catal. Math. & Optical Instruments A. Took in Catal. Pictures Sir R. Cotton 25 A Scioptrick Ball to shew the Representation of Objects in a dark Room.
a1764 J. Harris Treat. Optics (1775) 269 For holding the lens, there is a little convenient apparatus to be had ready in the shops, called a Scioptric-ball.
1783 P. Fletcher's Purple Isl. v. xxxvi. (note) Herein is described the Camera Obscura,..which exhibit the pictures of external objects in their proper colours, by means of a convex glass, or Scioptric Ball, either in a darkened chamber, or portable box.
?1790 J. Imison School of Arts (ed. 2) 270 A scioptric ball and socket being fastened against a hole in the window-shutter in a darkened chamber.
1797 Encycl. Brit. VI. 36/1 Put the object-glass of a 10 or 12 feet telescope into the scioptric ball.
1845 T. Dick Pract. Astronomer ii. ii. 186 EF represents a darkened room, in the side of which, IK, is made the circular hole V, in which, on the inside, is fixed the scioptric ball.
1906 R. C. Bayley Compl. Photographer i. 5 The ‘Scioptrick ball’ was a wooden globe pierced and fitted at one end of the opening with a lens. The ball was so held that it could be turned about, and a camera fitted with it was sold in 1704 by Mr. Marshall at ‘the Archimedes’ on Ludgate Hill. Such camera were called ‘Scioptricks’.
1986 H. Gernsheim Conc. Hist. Photogr. (ed. 3) 4/2 The scioptric ball or ‘ox-eye’ consisted of a hollow, revolvable wooden sphere with a hole bored through its axis and a lens fitted at either end, each of different focal length.
B. n.† 2. = scioptric ball n. at sense A. Obsolete. rare.
1. A camera obscura employing a scioptric ball. Usually in plural. Now historical.
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the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instruments for projecting image > [noun] > camera obscura or lucida
darkroom1635
dark chamber1658
scioptric1704
dark tent1706
obscura camera1706
camera obscura1716
camera1734
camera lucida1753
box camera1828
1704 J. Harris Lexicon Technicum I. at Obscura Camera Such ready fitted are now commonly sold..on Ludgate-hill, and are called Scioptricks.
1906 [see sense A.]. 1910 Encycl. Brit. V. 107/2 The camera obscura with the arrangement called the ‘scioptric ball’, and known as scioptricks, was on sale in London [in 1704].
2009 U. McGovern & P. Jenner Lost Lore 92 By this time, portable versions of the camera obscura were for sale all over the Western world, and by incorporating a mirror could show the image the right way up. In London they were known for a time as ‘Scioptricks’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sight and vision > optical instruments > instruments for projecting image > [noun] > camera obscura or lucida > parts of
scioptric ball1696
scioptic1710
scioptric?1750
?1750 W. Robertson Descr. New Catadioptric Microsc. 4 A new Scioptric, inverting and erecting the Object.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2014; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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adj.n.1696